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LITERARY DEFINITIONS | LITERARY FORMS | POETRY TERMS | LITERARY DEVICES – 8
LITERARY DEFINITIONS | LITERARY FORMS | POETRY TERMS | LITERARY DEVICES : Welcome to Part 8 of our series on literary definitions, literary forms, poetry terms, and literary devices for competitive exams like UGC NET, SET, PGT, TGT, LT Grade, GATE English, and more. This guide presents 50 new literary terms in simple language, sourced from past exam questions (e.g., UGC NET 2018–2024, SET Maharashtra 2020–2023, PGT/TGT UP Board 2019–2022). Each term includes a definition, example, exam relevance, originator or key figure, famous poets or writers, and additional details, Perfect for students, educators, and literature enthusiasts, this post boosts your literary terminology and English literature quiz performance!
Master these types of literary terms to excel in your exams. Missed earlier parts? Visit Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, or Part 5., Part 6, or Part 7.
Table of Contents
- 351. Alliteration
- 352. Anapestic
- 353. Antagonist
- 354. Archetype
- 355. Assonance
- 356. Atmosphere
- 357. Aubade
- 358. Bildungsroman
- 359. Burlesque
- 360. Carpe Diem
- 361. Character Foil
- 362. Consonance
- 363. Denouement
- 364. Deus Ex Machina
- 365. Diction
- 366. Dirge
- 367. Dramatic Monologue
- 368. End-Stopped Line
- 369. Epigraph
- 370. Epiphany
- 371. Euphony
- 372. Farce
- 373. Gothic Novel
- 374. Haiku
- 375. Heroic Couplet
- 376. Idyll
- 377. Internal Rhyme
- 378. Invective
- 379. Lament
- 380. Lyric
- 381. Melodrama
- 382. Mood
- 383. Narrative Poetry
- 384. Novella
- 385. Parable
- 386. Parody
- 387. Pathos
- 388. Peripeteia
- 389. Picaresque Novel
- 390. Plot
- 391. Protagonist
- 392. Refrain
- 393. Rhyme Scheme
- 394. Scansion
- 395. Soliloquy
- 396. Stream of Consciousness
- 397. Subplot
- 398. Terza Rima
- 399. Villanelle
- 400. Voice
351. Alliteration
Definition: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a sentence or line.
Example: “Peter Piper picked a peck” in tongue twisters and poetry.
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to sound devices in poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from Old English poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Additional Details: Enhances rhythm. Exams test its use in Beowulf (c. 1000).
352. Anapestic
Definition: A metrical foot with two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one.
Example: “And the sound of a voice that is still” in Browning’s The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1842).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to prosody.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical prosody.
Famous Poets/Writers: Robert Browning, Lord Byron.
Additional Details: Lively rhythm. Exams test its scansion in narrative poetry.
353. Antagonist
Definition: A character opposing the protagonist, creating conflict.
Example: Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello (1604).
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2020, linked to character analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from dramatic theory.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë.
Additional Details: Drives plot. Exams test its role in Jane Eyre (1847).
354. Archetype
Definition: A universal symbol, character, or theme recurring across literature.
Example: The “hero” in myths like Homer’s The Odyssey (1200 BCE).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to Jungian analysis.
Originator: Carl Jung (20th century).
Famous Poets/Writers: Homer, Joseph Campbell.
Additional Details: Universal appeal. Exams test its use in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).
355. Assonance
Definition: Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words.
Example: “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” in Lerner’s My Fair Lady (1956).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2021, linked to sound devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, W.B. Yeats.
Additional Details: Creates mood. Exams test its use in The Raven (1845).
356. Atmosphere
Definition: The emotional tone or setting of a literary work.
Example: The eerie atmosphere in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to Gothic literature.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: Emily Brontë, Edgar Allan Poe.
Additional Details: Sets tone. Exams test its role in Romanticism.
357. Aubade
Definition: A poem about dawn or lovers parting at morning.
Example: Donne’s The Sun Rising (1633).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to metaphysical poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from medieval poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Donne, Philip Larkin.
Additional Details: Romantic theme. Exams test its use in Larkin’s works.
358. Bildungsroman
Definition: A novel depicting a character’s psychological and moral growth.
Example: Dickens’ Great Expectations (1861).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to 19th-century fiction.
Originator: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (popularized).
Famous Poets/Writers: Charles Dickens, James Joyce.
Additional Details: Focuses on maturity. Exams test its style in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).
359. Burlesque
Definition: A humorous imitation of a serious work or style.
Example: Pope’s The Rape of the Lock (1712).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to mock-heroic poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from 17th-century satire.
Famous Poets/Writers: Alexander Pope, Samuel Butler.
Additional Details: Exaggerates for humor. Exams test its use in satire.
360. Carpe Diem
Definition: A theme urging to “seize the day” and enjoy the moment.
Example: Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” (1648).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2022, linked to Renaissance poetry.
Originator: Horace (Odes, 23 BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: Robert Herrick, Andrew Marvell.
Additional Details: Emphasizes transience. Exams test its use in To His Coy Mistress (1681).
361. Character Foil
Definition: A character who contrasts with another to highlight traits.
Example: Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes in Conan Doyle’s stories (1887).
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2020, linked to character analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: Arthur Conan Doyle, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Enhances depth. Exams test its role in Hamlet (1600).
362. Consonance
Definition: Repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words.
Example: “Blank and think” in Plath’s Daddy (1965).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2021, linked to sound devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Sylvia Plath, Wilfred Owen.
Additional Details: Adds texture. Exams test its use in war poetry.
363. Denouement
Definition: The resolution of a narrative after the climax.
Example: The marriages in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2018, linked to plot structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from dramatic theory.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Ties loose ends. Exams test its role in 19th-century novels.
364. Deus Ex Machina
Definition: An unexpected solution to a plot problem, often contrived.
Example: The gods’ intervention in Euripides’ Medea (431 BCE).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to Greek drama.
Originator: No single coiner; from Greek tragedy.
Famous Poets/Writers: Euripides, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Often criticized. Exams test its use in As You Like It (1599).
365. Diction
Definition: The choice and use of words in a literary work.
Example: Elevated diction in Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to stylistic analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Milton, Ernest Hemingway.
Additional Details: Shapes tone. Exams test its contrast in Hemingway’s prose.
366. Dirge
Definition: A mournful song or poem for the dead.
Example: Shelley’s Adonais (1821) for Keats.
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to elegiac poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from funeral music.
Famous Poets/Writers: Percy Bysshe Shelley, W.H. Auden.
Additional Details: Solemn tone. Exams test its use in Romantic poetry.
367. Dramatic Monologue
Definition: A poem where a single speaker reveals their thoughts to a silent listener.
Example: Browning’s My Last Duchess (1842).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to Victorian poetry.
Originator: Robert Browning (popularized).
Famous Poets/Writers: Robert Browning, T.S. Eliot.
Additional Details: Reveals character. Exams test its use in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915).
368. End-Stopped Line
Definition: A line of poetry ending with a complete pause, often punctuated.
Example: “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” in Wordsworth’s Daffodils (1807).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2021, linked to poetic structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Wordsworth, Alexander Pope.
Additional Details: Creates closure. Exams test its contrast with enjambment.
369. Epigraph
Definition: A quotation at the beginning of a work setting its theme.
Example: The quote from Dante in Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to modernist literature.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway.
Additional Details: Sets tone. Exams test its use in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).
370. Epiphany
Definition: A sudden realization or insight by a character.
Example: Gabriel’s realization in Joyce’s “The Dead” (1914).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to modernist fiction.
Originator: James Joyce (popularized in literature).
Famous Poets/Writers: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf.
Additional Details: Deepens themes. Exams test its role in short stories.
371. Euphony
Definition: Pleasant, harmonious sounds in language.
Example: “The lark that sings so sweet” in Tennyson’s poetry.
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to sound devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Alfred Tennyson, John Keats.
Additional Details: Soothing effect. Exams test its contrast with cacophony.
372. Farce
Definition: A humorous play with exaggerated, improbable situations.
Example: Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to Victorian drama.
Originator: No single coiner; from medieval drama.
Famous Poets/Writers: Oscar Wilde, Molière.
Additional Details: Absurd humor. Exams test its social critique.
373. Gothic Novel
Definition: A genre with dark, mysterious settings and supernatural elements.
Example: Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to 18th-century fiction.
Originator: Horace Walpole (first Gothic novel).
Famous Poets/Writers: Horace Walpole, Mary Shelley.
Additional Details: Fearful tone. Exams test its themes in Frankenstein (1818).
374. Haiku
Definition: A Japanese poem of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllable count, often about nature.
Example: Basho’s “An old silent pond / A frog jumps in— / Splash! Silence again” (1686).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to world literature.
Originator: Matsuo Basho (17th century).
Famous Poets/Writers: Matsuo Basho, Kobayashi Issa.
Additional Details: Seasonal reference. Exams test its structure.
375. Heroic Couplet
Definition: Two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter, often expressing a complete thought.
Example: “True wit is nature to advantage dressed, / What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed” in Pope’s An Essay on Criticism (1711).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to 18th-century poetry.
Originator: Geoffrey Chaucer (early use).
Famous Poets/Writers: Alexander Pope, John Dryden.
Additional Details: Polished style. Exams test its use in satire.
376. Idyll
Definition: A short poem describing peaceful, rural life.
Example: Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to Victorian poetry.
Originator: Theocritus (3rd century BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: Alfred Tennyson, Virgil.
Additional Details: Idealized setting. Exams test its themes in pastoral poetry.
377. Internal Rhyme
Definition: Rhyme within a single line of poetry.
Example: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary” in Poe’s The Raven (1845).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to sound devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Additional Details: Enhances rhythm. Exams test its effect in narrative poetry.
378. Invective
Definition: Harsh, abusive language directed at a person or cause.
Example: Swift’s attacks in A Modest Proposal (1729).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to satire.
Originator: No single coiner; from rhetorical tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope.
Additional Details: Sharp tone. Exams test its use in 18th-century literature.
379. Lament
Definition: A poem or song expressing grief or sorrow.
Example: Milton’s Lycidas (1637).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to elegiac poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from ancient poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Milton, Thomas Gray.
Additional Details: Mourns loss. Exams test its themes in pastoral elegies.
380. Lyric
Definition: A short poem expressing personal emotions or thoughts.
Example: Shelley’s To a Skylark (1820).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to Romantic poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from ancient Greek poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats.
Additional Details: Musical quality. Exams test its form in Romanticism.
381. Melodrama
Definition: A dramatic work with exaggerated emotions and sensationalism.
Example: Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to 19th-century fiction.
Originator: No single coiner; from 18th-century drama.
Famous Poets/Writers: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Emotional appeal. Exams test its social impact.
382. Mood
Definition: The emotional atmosphere created by a literary work.
Example: The melancholic mood in Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to stylistic analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Additional Details: Evokes feelings. Exams test its role in Victorian novels.
383. Narrative Poetry
Definition: Poetry that tells a story with characters, plot, and setting.
Example: Byron’s Don Juan (1819–1824).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to Romantic poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from epic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Lord Byron, Alfred Tennyson.
Additional Details: Story-driven. Exams test its structure in epics.
384. Novella
Definition: A short novel, longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.
Example: Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to 19th-century fiction.
Originator: No single coiner; from Italian tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad.
Additional Details: Focused narrative. Exams test its themes in Heart of Darkness (1899).
385. Parable
Definition: A simple story illustrating a moral or spiritual lesson.
Example: The Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Bible.
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to allegorical literature.
Originator: No single coiner; from religious texts.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jesus Christ (Biblical), John Bunyan.
Additional Details: Moral focus. Exams test its use in The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678).
386. Parody
Definition: A humorous imitation of a work, style, or genre.
Example: Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605) parodies chivalric romances.
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to satire.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Miguel de Cervantes, Henry Fielding.
Additional Details: Mocks original. Exams test its style in Shamela (1741).
387. Pathos
Definition: A quality in literature evoking pity or sadness.
Example: The death of Little Nell in Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop (1841).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to emotional appeal.
Originator: Aristotle (Rhetoric, c. 350 BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy.
Additional Details: Engages readers. Exams test its use in Victorian fiction.
388. Peripeteia
Definition: A sudden reversal of fortune in a narrative.
Example: Oedipus’ discovery of his identity in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (429 BCE).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to Greek tragedy.
Originator: Aristotle (Poetics, c. 335 BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: Sophocles, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Pivotal moment. Exams test its role in Macbeth (1606).
389. Picaresque Novel
Definition: A novel following a roguish hero’s episodic adventures.
Example: Defoe’s Moll Flanders (1722).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to 18th-century fiction.
Originator: No single coiner; from Spanish tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding.
Additional Details: Satirical tone. Exams test its style in Tom Jones (1749).
390. Plot
Definition: The sequence of events in a narrative.
Example: The revenge plot in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1600).
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2020, linked to narrative structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from dramatic theory.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Jane Austen.
Additional Details: Drives story. Exams test its elements in Emma (1815).
391. Protagonist
Definition: The main character driving the narrative.
Example: Elizabeth Bennet in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to character analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from dramatic theory.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Additional Details: Central focus. Exams test its role in The Great Gatsby (1925).
392. Refrain
Definition: A repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song.
Example: “Nevermore” in Poe’s The Raven (1845).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to poetic structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Dylan Thomas.
Additional Details: Emphasizes theme. Exams test its use in Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night (1951).
393. Rhyme Scheme
Definition: The pattern of rhymes in a poem, denoted by letters (e.g., ABAB).
Example: ABAB in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (1609).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to poetic structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Robert Frost.
Additional Details: Organizes stanzas. Exams test its patterns in sonnets.
394. Scansion
Definition: The analysis of a poem’s metrical structure.
Example: Scanning iambic pentameter in Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to prosody.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical prosody.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Milton, Alexander Pope.
Additional Details: Identifies rhythm. Exams test its application in epic poetry.
395. Soliloquy
Definition: A character’s speech to themselves, revealing inner thoughts.
Example: “To be or not to be” in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1600).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to dramatic techniques.
Originator: No single coiner; from Elizabethan drama.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe.
Additional Details: Reveals motives. Exams test its role in tragedies.
396. Stream of Consciousness
Definition: A narrative style capturing a character’s thought flow.
Example: Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to modernist fiction.
Originator: William James (psychological term); popularized by Joyce.
Famous Poets/Writers: Virginia Woolf, James Joyce.
Additional Details: Internal focus. Exams test its use in Ulysses (1922).
397. Subplot
Definition: A secondary plot supporting the main narrative.
Example: The Gloucester subplot in Shakespeare’s King Lear (1606).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to dramatic structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from dramatic theory.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Enhances themes. Exams test its role in Bleak House (1853).
398. Terza Rima
Definition: A three-line stanza with an interlocking rhyme scheme (ABA BCB).
Example: Dante’s Divine Comedy (1320).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to Italian literature.
Originator: Dante Alighieri.
Famous Poets/Writers: Dante Alighieri, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Additional Details: Flowing structure. Exams test its use in Ode to the West Wind (1820).
399. Villanelle
Definition: A 19-line poem with five tercets and a quatrain, with two refrains and two repeating rhymes.
Example: Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night (1951).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to modern poetry.
Originator: Jean Passerat (16th century).
Famous Poets/Writers: Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop.
Additional Details: Repetitive form. Exams test its structure.
400. Voice
Definition: The distinct style or perspective of a narrator or author.
Example: The cynical voice in Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to narrative style.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: J.D. Salinger, Mark Twain.
Additional Details: Shapes perspective. Exams test its role in first-person narratives.
Why These Terms Matter for Competitive Exams
These literary definitions, literary forms, poetry terms, and literary devices are crucial for UGC NET, SET, PGT, TGT, and other exams, appearing in:
- Poetry Analysis: Terms like anapestic or internal rhyme in Browning or Poe.
- Drama: Soliloquy or peripeteia in Shakespeare or Sophocles.
- Novels: Bildungsroman or stream of consciousness in Dickens or Woolf.
- Rhetoric: Invective or pathos in Swift or Dickens.
Master these types of literary terms to excel in MCQs, essays, and short answers.
Tips to Use This Guide
- Create flashcards for terms like assonance or terza rima.
- Apply to texts (e.g., find euphony in Tennyson’s poems).
- Align with exam syllabi (e.g., UGC NET’s fiction section).
- Practice past MCQs from UGC NET 2018–2024.
- Read texts like Great Expectations or Mrs Dalloway.
Explore More Resources
Test your knowledge with our MCQs on English Literature. Explore English Literature resources for more prep. Stay tuned for future posts on literary terms!
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